Word: mission
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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CARL SAGAN'S MISSION--to popularize contemporary science--is beyond reproach. Yet, like a hard-sell broker, his execution is chronically faulty. In this collection of 25 essays he spreads before the reader a whole gamut of the most tasty scientific ideas, concepts, and predictions, ranging from the prospect of extraterrestial life to the role of gestation in shaping world religion. But he skips frenetically from one to the next, milking only the most sensational aspects and indulging freely in irresponsible speculation. Our aggravation is heightened by his persistent editorial voice in the background, applauding the genius of this...
Insofar as a unifying thread in this collection of essays exists, it is Sagan's series of ill-disguised emotional crusades. His first mission, of course, is to dangle accessible science provacatively before the public. A second is his virulent attack on the theory-mongers of science, the "paradoxers"--those irresponsible practitioners who propose theories without ample evidence, make lots of noise in support of them, and then fall niftily by the wayside when someone with the facts comes along. Sagan debunks them in several delightful essays, taking to task, among others, the proponents of mathematically gifted horses and human...
Zlin was not so much concerned with the personal consequences of discovery and apprehension as he was with mission failure. Failure would plague him, give him no rest...Zlin did not consider his act theft, nor himself a thief. He was acting on behalf of his government and would retain none of the money, nor derive any gain from...
...University ploughed ahead with its plans, advancing huge sums of money for its pet project. Harvard had to know that its diesel engines would produce nitrogen dioxides--said to be harmful to human and animal health in certain doses--but it sidestepped the problem. When community groups in the Mission Hill area broached the subject, the University blanched--and hired teams of experts to do air pollution impact studies...
...Real Love is demanding. I would fail in my mission if I did not clearly tell you so...do not be afraid of honest effort and honest work; do not be afraid of truth. With Christ's help, and through prayer, you can answer his call, resisting temptations and fads and every form of mass manipulation. Open your hearts to the Christ of the Gospels--to his love and his truth and his joy. Do not go away...